[SGVLUG] Villaraigosa signs measure to reduce Internet business taxes

[Emerson, Tom (*IC)]

> -----Original Message----- Of matti
>
> Man! sometimes you wonder what they were thinking
> when the raised the tax rate in the first place!!

Given the specific example of "Shopzilla", No - I'm wondering what they were thinking classifying a search engine as a "multimedia company" when it is, in fact, a "business" (it provides you, the "consumer", with a service - a list of places that sell "product x")  It does this in a single form of "media" [a webpage] and derives income from ??? [advertisers? The businesses that it lists?]

> ---
...
> The city's Office of Finance last year started to reclassify
> Internet-based firms into a higher business tax bracket.
> Until then, Internet companies were considered to be
> "multimedia" businesses and subject to a tax rate of $1.01
> per $1,000 of gross receipts. Under the new classification,
> they were placed in the "business and professions" category,
> which has a tax rate of $5.07 per $1,000 of gross receipts.